Hamlet, Macbeth, Falstaff and Lear. 

Shakespeare knew the power of names,  

their tragic and comic connotations.

Desdemona in her loveless marriage,

the Prince of Denmark haunted by his phantom father.

Mad kings and devious queens, cruel daughters

and their tricks; weird sisters hissing predictions 

with words out of the devil’s dictionary.

History rewritten, old stories told again 

by players who think that all the world’s a stage

and the stage is all possible worlds

for a bit of slapstick, revels and disorder, 

a braying ass, a scurvy monster.

Or midsummer sorcery to change the weather, 

a soliloquy spoken to the heavens.

Gloom and doom and in between interludes 

of wicked schemes and mischievous pranks

and then a song to ease and lift our hearts.